1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus of determining the attitude of an artificial satellite and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for determining the attitude of artificial satellite or the like using a star sensor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional attitude determining system using a star sensor in an artificial satellite (hereinafter, simply referred to as a satellite) uses a rough measurement value which is obtained by other attitude measuring sensors such as a gyroscope or the like and identifies the stars which are projected onto the star sensor from among the stars in the universe, thereby determining a precise attitude angle of the satellite from this information.
However, in the case where the attitude of a satellite largely deviates, or where other apparatuses such as the above-mentioned gyroscope and the like which are used for identification of the star fail, this method has a serious problem in that it is difficult to determine which stars are projected onto the star sensor, so that the determination of the attitude by the star sensor cannot be performed.